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Dorie Clark | Entrepreneurial You (Episode 657)

Dorie Clark (@dorieclark) is a marketing strategist, adjunct professor of business administration at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, and author — most recently of Entrepreneurial You: Monetize Your Expertise, Create Multiple Income Streams, and Thrive.

The Cheat Sheet:

How Dorie Clark basically won a Grammy for networking.

Why it’s better to optimize for the interesting instead of prioritizing an income level.

How to build a career out of what might seem like disparate pieces of expertise and experience rather than focusing on just one thing.

Why we don’t make money from something — we make money because of it.

Why pursuing entrepreneurial ambitions isn’t just for the fulfillment of some dreamy fantasy, but a means of survival in the modern workforce.

As we learned last time Dorie Clark was on the show (check out that full episode here), the livelihoods that sustained our parents and grandparents have largely fallen by the wayside. Becoming an entrepreneur with your own personal brand (to at least some degree) isn’t just the fulfillment of some dreamy fantasy, but a means of survival.

More About This Show

For our parents and grandparents, it wasn’t unusual to spend an entire adulthood working for the same company. The benefits and security of such a job were the bread and butter of the American Dream, coveted by middle class wage earners who could comfortably support a household by demonstrating loyalty to that company and a commitment to work hard for their shared prosperity.

But somewhere along the way, the dynamic changed. The employer-employee bond of the modern working world is far less permanent, and most people change careers multiple times over the course of their adult lives. With the concept of “job security” fading into some mythological hinterland, it’s no wonder so many of us fantasize about stepping off the rat race treadmill entirely and working for ourselves.

But what if becoming an entrepreneur weren’t just the stuff of daydreams, but a bona fide way to survive in the economy of the 21st century?

“The reason people criticize the concept of ‘following your passion’ isn’t that it’s bad to feel passionate about your work. It’s that it’s hard to figure out how to make money and create a sustainable life around that passion, so people often fail,” says Dorie. “My research shows strategies for how to actually become successful over the long term doing what you love.”

This is why she urges us to optimize for what’s most interesting to us over aiming for a particular level of income.

“Too many people falter because early on, they prioritize making money,” says Dorie. “Of course you need to make enough to sustain yourself, but what you should really be optimizing for early on is what’s interesting. This does two things: it provides credibility (social proof) that makes it easier for you to gain other experiences and monetize later on, and it makes you seem like a fascinating peer to high profile people, which aids your network-building (and your ability to eventually access even better opportunities).

“For instance, even though the pay was low, early in my career, I made a point of seeking out teaching engagements, first teaching undergrads and then at business schools, because it was interesting/high status and provided professional credibility I could leverage in other ways.”

Listen to this episode of The Art of Charm in its entirety to learn more about the Halo Effect, the difference between bonding capital and bridging capital (and which one we should focus on building), why we should take care to regularly network outside of our industry, how this ties in with what Srini Pillay has taught us about dabbling and Scott Adams has taught us about skill stacking, why you don’t have to go “all in” and quit your day job in order to pursue alternative income streams, why big brand recognition online doesn’t always equate to big money — but how a little creativity and trust building can dig us out of such a rut — and lots more.

THANKS, DORIE CLARK!

If you enjoyed this session with Dorie Clark, let her know by clicking on the link below and sending her a quick shout out at Twitter:

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AJ Harbinger is one of the world’s top relationship development experts. His company, The Art of Charm, is a leading training facility for top performers that want to overcome social anxiety, develop social capital and build relationships of the highest quality.
Raised by a single father, AJ felt a strong desire to learn about relationships and the elements that make them successful. However, this interest went largely untapped for many years. Following the path set out for him by his family, AJ studied biology in college and went on to pursue a Ph.D. in Cancer Biology at the University of Michigan. It was at this time that he began to feel immense pressure from the cancer lab he worked in and began to explore other outlets for expression. It was at this point that The Art of Charm Podcast was born.
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